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CAEP Annual Plan: 2020-21 35 Southwest Riverside County Adult Education Regional Consortium

Status: Consortium Approved

California Adult Education Program : Annual Plan : 2020-21 Produced: Jul 23, 2020, 11:59 PM UTC Ken Swanson

35 Southwest Riverside County Adult Education Regional Consortium

Plans & Goals - Consortium Approved

Executive Summary
As a consortium we were on point, aligning to the first year of our current three-year plan. We had our primary focuses that each of us were integrating into our own Adult Ed programs. With the necessity to turn to 100% distance learning in the middle of our spring term, this definitely impacted our ability to serve all of our students. We found there was a lack of technology access and computer literacy. These barriers definitely created equity issues and limitations for the programs we offer and the students we serve. Over the past year, we have been able to meet the timeline we laid out in our three-year plan, for the first year's implementation plan. We increased staff development for our region by hosting two consortium-wide staff development conferences. We included WestEd in our spring conference sharing student data findings and trends we are seeing with our entrance and exit surveys that support the progress and direction we are making as a consortium. We observed an increase in our completion rates, the number of students served and the number of students transitioning into employment or post secondary. We also implemented our Individual Learning Plan tool (ILP) for all students throughout our consortium. This enabled us to utilize our counseling support team in a more focused way and to increase consistency throughout our region. In just the area of students transitioning into post-secondary from our Adult Ed programs, we were able to see a large increase in the number of students enrolling into local community colleges. We also collectively increased our career and employment training offerings region wide by over 25% increase. These results show a dedication to supporting our plan and the goals we felt our students would most benefit from as a region. The transition to 100% percent distance learning in the spring of 2020, definitely impacted our data collection and our student completion rates. With HiSET and GED testing centers closing, many students are waiting in a queue. We expect to see a jump in completion rates in early fall 2020. Our goals for the upcoming year will primarily focus on remaining dedicated to our three-year plan while adjusting to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on our fiscal existence. I think we all know and believe that the need for adult ed services and programs will increase, while our focus will need to stay on how to continue to offer a full menu of services while advocating for fiscal support.
Regional Planning Overview
As a consortium we had begun to implement our Individual Learning Plan (ILP) as detailed in our three-year plan. This tool was created by our counseling support team collectively, to be used across the consortium. The intent of the ILP, was to support students in mapping out their educational, short-term and long-term career goals. With our counseling team supporting all programs throughout our region, we were able to ensure this tool was being utilized and piloted by all members. The ILP also is one resource that can easily be transitioned to distance learning programs when the need arises. The limitation regarding distance learning is the lack of access to technology and the technology literacy levels of our students. Another main focus for our consortium in our three-year plan, was the increase of career education training.. We have a commitment to ensuring that each member has some type of career education program or offering by the 2020-2021 school year. During the 2019-2020 academic year we were able to increase these offerings. Eight of our ten members had a career education training course offered for their students that resulted in certification, preparation to transition into post secondary coursework or immediate employment. At this time, we are not sure of the impact on our course offerings as a result of the budget cuts being discussed due to COVID-19, the state implementing a 12% cut to CAEP funding and online learning continuing into the fall of 2020-2021. Some of our career courses are hands-on programs which may have some limitations and reductions in offerings these programs due to distance learning. We still have the commitment to focus on these programs and will need to see the final budget implications to determine course offerings. This year we increased our staff development opportunities consortium wide with a focus on data and data collection. We held two regional staff development days supporting over 100 participants with relevant workshops held by industry partners and internal educators and administrators. As a consortium we also began holding data trainings during our monthly meetings. These training sessions were attended by administrators, fiscal staff and key data staff, throughout our consortium. We focused on areas of need which supported our members with better data collection and data analysis.. We also continued our relationship with WestEd. During our staff development days in the spring, WestEd staff presented at our consortium PD, sharing key student data collected through our entrance and exit surveys. As we move forward we will continue to focus on strong data collecting skills with a monthly focus on areas of need improvement. We will need to adjust, with online education creating issues with the collection of assessment scores and student data, as a result of distance learning. We will identify new strategies to continue to collect student data.

Meeting Regional Needs

Regional Need #1

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
We expect an increase in the need for HSE services. There may be an increase in displaced workers who need an HSE to support their transition to employment opportunities, as a result of COVID, 19.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
This data is already showing in regional workforce data provided from our workforce development partners.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
Effectiveness will be easily measured through data, showing the number of students served in acquiring a HSE. Additionally, offering these classes online will allow us to support more students who have not been able to attend classes in person due to childcare or work schedule conflicts.

Regional Need #2

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
Computer literacy barriers for the students we serve. This gap was exacerbated during COVID-19. We were thrust into a situation where we needed to continue to serve the students we support while also adjusting to a new platform for our instructors. Throughout our region it became obvious that computer literacy is not only a barrier for educational services but by addressing this need, it will allow us to support an educational need.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
This data comes from our WestEd surveys along with the awareness created during this spring with COVID-19. Our students have access and literacy barriers. Collectively we are facing these challenges with some of our ESL students with low literacy and with communities where Wifi and device access are not available. This impact was not felt in our county programs serving incarcerated students that had not yet implemented online learning.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
We are adapting as programs to meet these needs. We are advocating to have some in person classes to increase student access. We will be training our staff during staff development on implementing technology and resources to build capacity with the students we serve. Additionally we will look at CASAS data along with HSE and certificate completion rates.

Regional Need #3

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
Short term career training classes where students earn a certificate or where our students can transition into employment or post-secondary programs.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
This comes from our local workforce development data and from data coming out of regional unemployment reports. COVID-19 has impacted this data and shown the need for more trained and skilled workers.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
A priority for us will be to try and maintain the level of courses we have been able to offer during the 2019-2020 school year, even with some significant budget issues due to COVID-19. We are already looking at how to continue our programs and expand or adjust to meet the employment needs of our region and the goals of our students.

Regional Need #4

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
The transition from distance to online learning.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
Distance learning was a stopgap measure and remains in place to address the disruption caused by COVID-19. Distance learning lacked rigor at times and consistent educational programs. With online learning, course outcomes and objectives will be put in place from the onset.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
Numbers of students successfully accessing online learning in the fall. Looking at completion and success rates for fall and spring terms along with student NRS EFL. Through programs surveys we also should have data indicating effectiveness of online learning.

Gaps In Service

New Strategies

Strategy #1
We are looking at alternate options to offer HSE services in our region with distance learning course offerings. This will allow us to meet flexible scheduling needs of our students.
Strategy #2
We are looking at short-term computer courses, support services through our counseling teams and other resources to help with computer literacy barriers that our students are facing.

Seamless Transitions

New Strategies

Strategy #1
As a consortium we have committed to using an internally created tool. The Individual Learning Plan (ILP) will allow us to support all students throughout our consortium with a planning tool that will help guide their career and educational goals.
Strategy #2
We are continuing to support all consortium members with academic counseling support. These transition counselors are hired through the community college and are each assigned a consortium member adult schools, or schools to provide services. Each counselor weekly supports these individual programs with transition services, presentations, registration support and help facilitating tours and FAFSA events for our adult programs on a weekly basis. The data collection of the counseling support in this model has demonstrated effectiveness of implementation and begun to show some strong data. The number of students that are transitioning from consortium adult schools to our community college or post-secondary programs has increased over the last two years.
Strategy #3
As a consortium we have purposely put in place many introductions to career courses that align with certificate, licensure and degree programs in our region. Some of our courses result in certification that support students transitioning into employment opportunities immediately upon completion. This is an area that we are hoping to maintain even with the COVID-19 impact.
Strategy #4
Our Adult Schools in partnership with our community college are aligning introduction to career courses with the designated certificate and degree programs at our community college. These introduction to career courses are, when possible, being taught by the community college credit faculty. We also have been able to offer credit courses on Adult School campuses to assist with the transition of our adult students from free non credit classes into credit and post-secondary coursework. This model is driving some new degree programs at our community college. Some of these courses include culinary and construction pathways that have started in our consortium as non-credit courses.

Student Acceleration

New Strategies

Strategy #1
One area that COVID-19 has had a positive impact on, is in the area of accelerated learning. Some of our students struggle with very impacted schedules, extending the time it takes them to progress through an academic program. Some of our students are progressing at a faster rate through their courses as a result of the new flexibility of distance learning opportunities and increased online instruction.
Strategy #2
Utilizing our ILP consortium-wide to support students has resulted in them progressing at a quicker rate through our programs. With students taking ownership of their academic and professional goals with the assistance of an academic counselor, evidence shows students will be more focused and efficient at moving towards their goals. Putting their plan into an academic schedule supports this.

Professional Development

New Strategies

Strategy #1
We will continue offering consortium-wide staff development conferences twice a year. These conferences are offered for all faculty, support staff, data staff and administrators. We offer a menu of 20 to 30 workshops and common times for presentations and exhibits. This model allows us to meet the needs for all participants. The workshops are hosted by members, partners and professional organizations. We focus on areas of need with an emphasis on keeping everyone updated and consistent throughout the consortium. There is a focus on data collections, best practices and collaboration. With these conferences we are finding that over the last few years, we now are working more as a unit with the ability to transition more students from program to program. Dual enrollment through our community college and adult schools to adult schools for career training opportunities have increased as a result of these collaborative opportunities.
Strategy #2
We have embedded our data training into our monthly meetings. This gives us the opportunity to continue to look at key data collection strategies, increase data collection and improve on our consortium data collection practices. We have put an emphasis during these trainings to focus on small details that can make a difference if implemented consortium wide. This also includes more staff members including fiscal staff and data support staff in our monthly meetings. The benefit is that more members are participating and are more aware of what is occurring in our consortium. The training also strengthens our relationships throughout the consortium that benefit all of our students and staff.

Leveraging Resources

New Strategies

Strategy #1
This year we plan to increase our existing partnership with our WIB and CFLC to maximize offerings and reduce duplication of services. We are taking a look at how we can offer more options to our students with less funding due to COVID-19. This includes shoring up the number of offerings to increase capacity. We will look at efficiency practices and utilizing mutual offerings to continue to offer a wide range of services. We also need to look at best practices to attract new students with this online format while maintaining retention numbers which will be difficult with technology barriers.
Strategy #2
Many of us in our consortium are pulling resources that are available online and eliminating unnecessary expenses that include costly platforms for instructional materials. There are many resources available that have low or no cost. We also are combining resources. For example, by offering a Canvas workshop during staff development, we can share Canvas shells throughout the consortium to save time and add to consistency from one program to another. We also are looking at this same practice with sharing EL Civics units.
Strategy #3
We have spent the time this semester updating our consortium website. This will allow prospective students and community partners to access our offerings in an organized manner, while supporting students across our region. Our website will allow us to share resources and support student educational goals from one location representing all ten consortium member programs. This also will support new students looking for education and career training.

Fiscal Management

A narrative justifying how the planned allocations are consistent with the annual adult education plan which is based on your CAEP 3-year plan.
As a consortium we ensure with joint oversight that we are all spending our funds as planned, aligned to the seven program areas and our three-year plan. We have in our bylaws that we all must vote if any member adjusts their personal budget more than 15 percent in any program or object code. We also hold each other accountable for the data we produce aligned to our overall data as a consortium. These are conversations we have always had collaboratively but even more so now, as we face budget shortfalls. We continue to ensure that each of us spends our allocations as committed to our seven program areas and the goals we planned as a consortium. This includes a focus on offering short-term career training classes, ongoing staff development and a push-in counseling support model to assist our students with transitioning into post-secondary and employment goals.
An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2020-21.
In this area, we as a consortium, work collaboratively in the truest form to continue to use our rollover funds for special projects. This has included the increase in technology for student use, new short-term career programs and one-time funds to get new programs up and running for each member. As we move into the 2020-2021 school year we realize we are facing a large budget cut from the state. With this in mind we have already voted to spend some of our rollover dollars to pay for our students information system for all members and our ongoing partnership with WestEd. We even have pulled some of our fiscal lead dollars to also support these expenses, that all of our consortium members will benefit from. We still have rollover funds from 2019-2020 and fiscal lead 2019-2020 that we are holding to use, if the budget cuts become more severe due to COVID-19 in the coming months. We are looking at the impact this has on us individually and as a consortium. One of our strongest programs in place is our counseling model that supports all of our members. This program is currently funded through MSJC, as our community college partner. This program has been recognized as a model program at the state level and has expanded into a very successful transition program supporting all members and students in our consortium with counseling support. We are hopeful to keep all of our good work intact with the use of these funds and our ongoing commitment to support each other collectively.

Certification

Banning Unified - Member Representative

Approved by David Sanchez

07/22/2020 08:43 AM PDT

Beaumont Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Debbie Flores

07/22/2020 10:34 AM PDT

Hemet Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Hemet Unified School District Erica Jennings

07/22/2020 10:02 AM PDT

Lake Elsinore Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Arleen Sanchez

07/22/2020 08:53 AM PDT

Mt. San Jacinto CCD - Member Representative

Approved by Ms. Amy Campbell

07/22/2020 04:16 PM PDT

Murrieta Valley Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Shane Sands

07/22/2020 01:29 PM PDT

Perris Union High - Member Representative

Approved by BRITTANY ROSS

07/22/2020 08:55 AM PDT

Riverside Co. Office of Education - Member Representative

Approved by Ms. Lucie Gonzalez

07/22/2020 09:36 AM PDT

San Jacinto Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Ken Swanson

07/23/2020 04:59 PM PDT

Temecula Valley Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Cheryl Gray

07/22/2020 08:19 AM PDT